Many methods have been developed for encrypting plaintext into ciphertext so that a party having the appropriate key could decrypt the ciphertext to view the plaintext. Prior to the advent of computers, these methods were typically executed by humans with pen and paper, and were later adapted for use with telegraph and teletype. The keys necessary for encrypting and decrypting messages were distributed using couriers or other physical key distribution means. If the key used for encryption and decryption is as long as the message, and if the key is used only once, the encryption method is referred to as a One-Time Pad (OTP) encryption method. If the key is shorter than the plaintext message, such that the key, or a derivative of the key, must be used two or more times, the encryption method is referred to as a “repeating key” encryption method. Prior to the development of computers that included dense, efficient, and re-writable data storage devices, the use of the OTP encryption method for any but the shortest of messages was extremely difficult and time consuming, due to the sheer size and volume of the necessary encryption keys needed. For example, for a person to encrypt a one megabyte computer file, the OTP cipher requires a one megabyte encryption key that cannot be reused. This system requirement made the implementation of an OTP cipher system very difficult and nearly impractical, prior to the advent of computers. This caused the OTP cipher to be relegated to only the most critical situations involving very small messages. Therefore, almost no development has occurred on the use and deployment of the One-Time Pad. Repeating keys have been favored over One-Time Pad keys because they are much smaller (typically hundreds or thousands of times smaller) and can be reused.
A popular repeating key method known as public key encryption uses different but related public and private keys for encryption and decryption. With the development of computers that include fast, easy to use, and removable data storage media (like flash RAM memory devices using universal serial bus (USB) interfaces capable of secure storage and management of the very large encryption keys needed for practical OTP deployment), the use of OTP encryption for data communication and storage has become practical. Additionally, with the recent increases in computer speed and memory size, repeating key encryption methods previously thought to provide adequate security have been broken, and are being broken at an increasing rate. Given a large enough sample of encrypted messages and a fast enough computer with a large enough memory, any repeating key encryption scheme can be broken. The only known encryption method that is provably unbreakable and immune to these advances in computer processing power and speed is the One-Time Pad cipher.
One of the primary challenges to encrypted communications is the need to distribute, update, and replace encryption keys. Although this need applies to all cipher systems, it is especially acute with the One-Time Pad cipher. Prior to this invention, there was no secure way to distribute, update, and replace keys by any means other than to physically deliver said keys to each participant in the communications channel. In the present invention, OTP and other encryption keys can be distributed in a secure manner even over insecure electronic means like the Internet, rather than through physical distribution methods. Thus, the present invention geometrically increases the use, scalability, encryption volume, surge capabilities, and efficiency of the OTP and other cipher systems.